點揀? This is a tough one. The popular factors are:
1. 成績 - There is no public exam for primary school graduates for comparison. All three primary schools are known to be in the top division (if ever there is any such division). So I won't bother to waste time to make meaningless academic comparison among primary schools where the input of parents and their resources matter a lot. When it comes to secondary schools, the parental factor may diminish somewhat. I recall I had received a letter from Cambridge suggesting that they would not consider my good A-Level grades alone because, in their view, good A-Level grades could be a result of good teaching rather than good studying!
2. 品德 - This is very abstract and I challenge anyone who claims to know the answer. How could one measure and compare any effort of the primary schools in promoting their students' conduct? Do we consider a primary school failing in providing a sound moral education because it is known to produce several living high profile mistresses?
3. 學費 - MCS (government subsidized), SPCS (private but still cheap), DGJS (private but not as expensive as international schools).
4. Religion - Catholic convent schools versus SKH school.
5. Location - DGJS is located in a rather seedy part of Kowloon (too close to Temple Street) but it has a beautiful new building. MCS has a very good feel of a convent school in a pleasant middle class environment in Kowloon Tong. SPCS is located at a very convenient part of Causeway Bay and is dangerously close to designers labels and famous shops and restaurants. When all other factors are not decisive and you don't have a driver to count on, geography must be the overriding factor to consider: "越近屋企越好"
6. Workload - As far as I know, all three are busy schools. How many hours of homework do students do a day? My information is that DGJS expects many hours, next is MCS, to be followed by SPCS. If anything, DGJS has a reputation for being pushy. On the other hand, girls need to work hard at MCS because a significant percentage of them may fail the benchmark to enter its secondary school. SPCS is rather relax, and the percentage who fail to promote to its secondary school is negligible.
7. Proud factor - DGJS has very competitive selection at Primary One admission. So their girls' parents are justifiably proud. SPCS draws almost all its Primary 1 students from its kindergartens/nursery school. SPCS is more or less closed to outsiders at all levels. Without tough competitive admission at primary one level (it occurred three years' earlier at kindergarten level), the proud factor is therefore not as distinctive as DGJS parents. MCS is a mix of lucky draw and hereditary factors. Some parents may have a strong feeling of being lucky interwined with proud.
8. School uniform - Girls being girls. Some may choose the best looking school uniform. DGJS and SPCS are very distinctive and smart looking. I have no particular view on MCS uniform.
9. Old girls - This could be controversial. We are talking about three leading girls primary schools whereas information about old girls do not always show who are from primary school and who are from both primary school and secondary school. In fact, some famous old girls could be from secondary school only - this point is more pronounced in DGJS and MCS because there is less turnover at SPCS as a whole. I would declare that I personally do not like several female public figures who happened to come from one particuar school but it does not stop me from admiring girls who survive 6 (and up to 13) years of schooling at that school!
Very fair and comprehensive comments from 4eyesdad. I tend to agree. In particular, I believe with regards to competitive atmosphere within the school, dgs>mcs>spc, so it really depends what type of school environment would you like your daughter to be in for the next 6to 12 years
Rary: I have the higest respect for all three primary schools here: DGJS, MCS and SPC.
I personally do not quite like the idea of putting young kids in a very competitive environment before age 11.
Imagine throwing a baby in a deep swimming pool. If she can survive by herself, she must be a genius. What if she is put off of water for life?
to be frank, secondary school ranking for all 3 of them are in top 10.
for me, I will choose MCS because (1) no need to pay school fees (2) there are smart and average students, so less pressure.
my friend's daughter in DGJS told me even average 90+, her ranking in class is 28 out of 35. this is very bad for her self-esteem ....